They Didn't Know We Were Seeds
Severus contemplates telling Lily and Cresswell about his encounter with Rookwood the next day when they sit down to research. After all, what they're about to do is probably a waste of time if Rookwood really knows what spell it is that's on the faucet and how to counter it as well. Yet he doesn't. He hopes instead they'll find the spell for themselves and be able to unlock the Chambers before Severus has to make his decision.
After creating yet another list of possible charms and counters to test out on the faucet, Severus turns to Lily and asks, "Do you think Sirius and the rest would let me take the map for the day on Thursday?"
"Yes," Lily answers, brows knitting together. "But why?"
Easily, he fibs, "Demitri cannot meet this weekend, but he has time on Thursday." Actually, Severus requested the old man meet him Thursday afternoon, but he has no plans to tell her or Cresswell that part.
Lily smiles with a palpable sort of relief. "That's brilliant! I'm sure you won't, but… Don't get caught sneaking out and in Hogsmeade, alright?"
Severus nods. It's annoying she insists on warning him, but at this point, he doesn't think Lily can help herself. Her worry simply gets the better of her and it's easier if he just agrees rather than make it a point to bicker about. "I won't," he tells her.
Tension floods out of her shoulders as she starts to pick up the books they'd been studying to put away. "So when do you want to test these out?"
"Tomorrow?" he suggests. "Does that work for you? Cresswell?"
Cresswell blinks as if he didn't expect Severus to consult him, but Lily nods as she turns her back on them. "I'm free," she answers.
"Well, Cresswell?" Severus asks again when the Ravenclaw doesn't answer.
He dips his chin. "That's fine. After curfew?"
"When else?" he snarks unthinkingly.
Instead of frowning or sighing at his tone, however, Cresswell snorts. "Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question."
It's Severus's turn to blink in surprise and when he glances over to Lily as she sits back down with him to finish their meeting, her eyes are a brighter shade of green than they have been in days.
-o-O-o-
"Here, but I need it back by tonight, understand?" Sirius tells him as he holds out the Marauder's Map for Severus to take.
Nodding, he starts to reach for it, only to have his friend pull the map away from him. Crossing his arms and frowning with a surprising amount of sobriety, Sirius repeats, "Do you understand?"
Severus rolls his eyes. "Yes, I understand. I wish to keep you from Remus tonight no more than you wish to stay away from him."
His friend sputters, "W-What?"
"Sirius, he's almost never at dinner the night of the full moon and usually misses all of his morning classes the day following. It's obvious."
The Gryffindor gapes at him for a long moment before saying, "You… How long…?"
He shrugs. "A while."
"D'you think anyone else knows?" he asks while he twists the fingers of his left hand with his right.
"I reckon not too many do," Severus answers. "Most are very absorbed in their own lives with little energy to expend on others. And those who do likely don't believe he's the one with the disease—"
"—It's not a disease, it's a curse!" Sirius breaks in, half-shouting.
Severus scoffs. As far as he's concerned lycanthropy stopped being a curse when those afflicted started being able to pass it along to others through blood and saliva. "Call it what you will, but I don't believe they think he's the werewolf. I'm sure they think the headmaster wouldn't dare to endanger students like that and instead one of Remus's parents are infected. It is quite common for werewolves who cage themselves to do some very irreparable damage to their bodies while in fits of bloodlust. Those who suspect anything most likely reckon he returns home in case his parent doesn't make it through the night."
"That's all right, I guess," Sirius says after a pause. Then, quieter, he asks again, "You really think no one else knows?"
He claps a hand on his friend's shoulder and slips the map out of his unresisting hand. "No, and if they do, they don't care enough to even start a rumor about Remus. So, don't worry, alright?" Severus takes a step back and raises the map in the air. "I'll have this back by dinner, okay? Now, I really must go before I'm late."
-o-O-o-
When Severus steps into the Three Broomsticks, Madam Rosmerta's frowning reflection meets him from behind the bar. However, instead of asking him what class he's supposed to be in right now, she goes back to counting her inventory. He shifts his gaze away from and starts to look over the pub. There is an overtired mother and three talkative children sitting in a booth towards the back and a few tables away from them an old man smokes as he reads a paper, completely oblivious to all. To his right, he spies his grandfather. He's not notcied Severus at all, as his gaze is fixed on something outside. He tries to see what, but with the hazy atmosphere and the glare from the sun on the window, he can't tell.
Shrugging, he walks over to the old man and slips into the booth across from him.
His grandfather's eyes snap to him. Light and mischievous, Demitri says to him, "Hello, Severus." He smirks. "Every time we meet you look more a man than before."
Severus suppresses the urge to roll his eyes and replies with just a little bite in an overall monotone, "I don't think I'll ever be able to look in a mirror without experiencing vertigo from the wrongness of my appearance."
Demitri shakes his head. "…You never can take a kind word lying down, can you, lad?"
He sniffs and turns his head to look back over at Rosmerta. She's eyeing him and Demitri with no small amount of suspicion. He wonders if she's going to call Hogwarts about him being at the Broomsticks. He hopes not. The woman doesn't look much past twenty and surely she hasn't put her own Hogwarts days so far behind her she'd be so strict about following its rules. Returning his attention to his grandfather, he sneers, "I don't know what you mean."
"How is Hogwarts treating you?"
Severus cocks his head at the sudden change of topic. "Fine," he answers. "How's Mum?"
"Vesta visits often and says she's been little morose now that you've gone back to school, but Ichabod looks well enough, so she's not too concerned yet," he tells him.
"That's good," Severus says with relief. "Did she tell you she's submitted an article to Witch Weekly as well?"
His grandfather nods. "Yes, she even showed me it when I stopped by for tea earlier this week. It was quite good, I think the chances are high it will be in the magazine."
Severus lets his lips quirk with the start of a smile. "I'm glad."
"…Now that we've gotten pleasantries out of the way, what exactly are we meeting about today, Severus?" questions his grandfather as he leans forward onto the table with his arms crossed and eyebrows set in a furrow for serious, thoughtful discussion.
He indicates for Demitri to wave his wand and cast a privacy spell on them and their table. His grandfather does so. Feeling it's now secure enough to speak, Severus asks, "How much do you know about Horcruxes?"
"Very little," the old man admits. "I've heard about them in passing a time or two over the years. In fact, it was just last year—" he stops. "Is this connected to your vanquishing the Dark Lord business?"
He nods. "We've got one of his Horcruxes and I believe there's another in the castle I can retrieve should I so choose to as well."
Demitri falls back into the booth, blue eyes large with shock. "The Lord has two Horcruxes?"
"More than that, actually."
"Merlin, Morgana, and Mordred!" the old man exclaims, bringing a hand to cover his mouth. Through his fingers, he mutters with no small amount of dejection and dismay, "That man was mad even before he split his soul, wasn't he?"
"Very," agrees Severus.
"The more I learn about him…" trails off Demitri, giving a terse shake of his head as he does so.
Severus silently counts to five and gives his grandfather a moment to quiet his thoughts before he gently says, "There was a reason I asked if you knew anything."
"And what reason is that, lad?"
He eyes the old man a moment.
Demitri raises an eyebrow with an insistent air.
With a soft exhale, Severus gives in and inquires, "Do you know any ways to destroy a Horcrux?"
"No, I can't say I do," the old man replies with an apologetic tone. "I've never needed to."
He sighs to himself and mumbles, "It was worth asking…"
"Perhaps I can help you find a way to destroy a Horcrux, however? I imagine the literature on them is rather sparse at Hogwarts."
"I know of at least a few books that mention them in some length," Severus informs Demitri. "Though, I don't know what it says about them. They're all in the Restricted Section and as I told Lily, we can't take more than a tome or two at a time without raising Irma's suspicions."
The old man summons from his pocket a diary and a quill. "Give me the titles and authors. I'll look into all of them and more for you and let you know if I find anything."
Severus rattles off the titles for the old man, who hurries to write them down. When done, he gets to his feet. "Thank you for meeting with me. Now, I really must be going. I promised Sirius to have his map back to him before dinner." And leave before Madam Rosmerta decides she's tired of giving him odd looks and goes to alert Albus of his truancy. However, before he can go, his grandfather puts a hand on his wrist.
"Must every meeting between us always be business?" he demands. "Surely you can stay a little longer and have some tea with me."
He shakes his head. "No, I really have to go," he tells Demitri. Hesitantly, half-heartedly, he offers, "But… The next we meet it can be for tea?"
The old man sighs. "Very well, I'm holding you to that," he agrees. "It was good to see you, lad. Travel safely."
"Thank you."
He hurries out of the Three Broomsticks once Demitri lets him go and pulls up the hood of his robe once he's outside. While retracing his path from earlier, Severus swerves to the right very suddenly when he rounds the corner of a shop in an effort to avoid an elderly witch and her slightly younger friend chatting in the middle of the street. As he does so, Severus ends up clipping a passing witch and sending them and her purchases careening to the ground.
"Sorry!" she exclaims.
As he helps her gather her things, Severus tells her, "It was my fault."
"No, no, I wasn't paying my surroundings any mi—" she stops when Severus hands her things to her.
He grins. "Hello, Clara."
Smiling back at him, she greets, "Severus! How lovely it is to see you."
As the two of them get to their feet and Clara readjusts her purchases so they are balanced in one arm, Severus asks, "How are you?"
"Well, thank you." She gestures to one of her parcels; a parcel Severus only caught a glimpse of, but knows is holding a dress or a cloak. "Clarence's brother, Edward, has invited us to his wedding next week. I decided to have Gladrags make me something to wear since they did such a lovely job with the last dress I wore to a wedding."
He raises his eyebrows. "That's quite short notice."
Clara bites her lips. "They… received some news earlier this month and decided to put a bit of a rush on things."
"Up the duff, is she?"
Her cheeks pinkened and she dipped her chin. "They're happy about it," she says, "all things considered."
"I suppose that's good," he replies before lapsing into a bit of silence. After a moment, he thinks to ask, "How's Benjy? And… His grandfather? You're living with him, aren't you?"
Clara brightens at the question. "Benjy's expecting a promotion in the new year. His supervisor is very impressed his work. I'm very proud of him. And Lewis is a bit poorly right now from a chest infection, but the healers say with a little more rest and he'll be just fine."
"It sounds like the three of you are doing well."
"We really are. How are you? …Your family?" she inquires, wincing a little on the word "your" in "your family". It reminds Severus not too long ago they were Clara's family too.
Politely, he ignores this and answers. "It's OWLs year for me, so I'm already on my way to being up to my ears in essays and projects. Mum and I moved into a cottage in Scotland and got a dog over the summer, it's a liver-colored flattie. His name is Ichabod." Severus pats his pockets and apologizes, "I'm sorry to say I don't have a picture of him on me. Perhaps another time I'll be able to show you what he looks like, he's a very handsome pup."
"I'd love that," Clara replies, smiling. "Benjy and I have been discussing getting a pet ourselves." Her smile turns a bit cheeky. "As a trial run for children, you know?"
He snorts. "I recommend something with short hair. Ichabod is brilliant, but he's left every centimeter of our home covered in hair."
She laughs. "I'll keep that in mind the next time Benjy and I talk about pets."
Severus clears his throat. "As for the family… They are about the same. Vesta is well-meaning, but irksome as ever, Sage is much in the same position as me with the added bonus of new prefect duties, and Violet and Boyd are happy and still in their honeymoon phase from what I can tell."
Clara nods, chin quivering ever so slightly. "Good. I'm glad everyone is doing just fine. You'll give my congratulations to Sage, won't you? Making prefect is quite the accomplishment."
"I will," he promises. Or he will try to, anyhow. Severus isn't quite sure how Sage will take well-wishing from Clara. He always looks uncertain the few times Severus has mentioned her since she eloped with Benjy; Severus has a feeling Sage was told not to talk about her with anyone.
Clara checks her watch. "I wish I could talk more, but I have to clean the house up a little. Benjy's parents are stopping by for dinner and to see how Lewis is doing."
"That's quite all right," replies Severus. "The longer I'm on the street, the more likely someone is going to report me to Headmaster Dumbledore for truancy."
The woman gasps softly. "Oh, yes, it's Thursday! My, what are you thinking, skiving off class?"
"Demitri and I had to talk about some things in person. I have Lily taking notes for me, so I will be fine."
Clara shakes her head. "I probably should scold you, but I'd rather end our run-in on a happy note." Leaning in, she briefly hugs Severus. "I'll write you, okay? Just so you have my address in case you need anything, or even if you just want to talk. It's been lovely, but I must go. Goodbye, Severus!"
"Bye, Clara," he echoes, waving at her as she starts to walk in the opposite direction of Hogwarts.
For a moment, he watches her, and, then, still wearing a small grin, continues on his return path to school at double-pace. Severus has every intention of keeping his promise to Sirius.
How do you like the chapter? Quite a bit happened! How'd you like seeing Dirk and Severus being almost cordial to one another? The scene with Demitri? The surprise run-in with Clara?
Thank you very much for reading, I appreciate it!
Edited: 12/28/19